In July 1983, five inmates at the Huttonsville Correctional Facility in West Virginia petitioned the Supreme Court of West Virginia for a writ of mandamus challenging certain conditions at that facility which, they alleged, violated their constitutional and statutory rights. The plaintiffs, ...
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In July 1983, five inmates at the Huttonsville Correctional Facility in West Virginia petitioned the Supreme Court of West Virginia for a writ of mandamus challenging certain conditions at that facility which, they alleged, violated their constitutional and statutory rights. The plaintiffs, represented by Mountain State Justice, Inc., were concerned with overcrowding, disciplinary procedures, and medical care at the prison, in addition to other conditions.

The Supreme Court of West Virginia issued a rule of mandamus returnable to the Circuit Court of Randolph County and appointed Judge Larry V. Starcher as Special Judge. The Circuit Court of Randolph County (Judge Starcher) entered an order finding that conditions at the Huttonsville Correctional Facility fell below the standards guaranteed by the Constitution of West Virginia.

From 1985 to 1996, Judge Starcher monitored the operation and improvement of the facility. On December 26, 1996, the Circuit Court of Randolph County (Judge Starcher) issued a final order in the case, which the defendants appealed.

On July 8, 1998, the Supreme Court of West Virginia (Judge Elliott Maynard) reversed two provisions of the final order, holding that the facility was not required to hire someone outside the Department of Corrections to conduct inmate disciplinary hearings and that future contracts for outside inmate medical services did not have to provide for a per incident threshold of five hundred dollars. Nobles v. Duncil, 505 S.E.2d 442 (W.Va. 1998). We have no further information on the proceedings in this case.